Wood County Commission discusses Pond Creek water project
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PARKERSBURG -- The Wood County Commission remains committed to helping get water to certain parts of the Pond Creek area.
Katrina Kratche, Project Coordinator for the Mid-Ohio Valley Regional Council, appeared before the commission to give an update and said they have met with the Army Corps of Engineers and have been working with engineers on the layout of where the pipe will go and having discussions with people about easements and right-of-ways.
"This project will bring water to people who are currently hauling water," Kratche said. "It will be new lines for the Mineral Wells (Public Service District)."
Commissioner Jimmy Colombo said everyone needs to understand the importance of this project.
"We are here for clean water," he said. "Without clean water we cannot exist.
"You can't do it with the snap of the finger. You are building block by block to get this done."
Local resident Roger Ralston has been meeting with officials and with residents, attending numerous meetings and keeping community interest up on the project.
Both Kratche and the commission commended the work Ralston has done on moving this project forward.
The total project will be around $3.5 million.
The commission has committed to covering 10% of the project. The money will come from money the county received to distribute from the American Recovery Act.
The rest of the project has been funded through "multiple funding sources," Kratche said.
If there is money left over, the money goes back to the commission and the regional council can apply for that money to go to other aspects of the project.
"It is all paperwork, but it is something that can be verified," Colombo said.
The commission requested an invoice so they can make out their check for the 10%.
Kratche said the project will be divided into two phases and they are working on getting a count of the number of residences that the project can extend water lines out to.
They are planning to hold public meetings with the assistance of the local fire department and to get user commitments signed and notarized so they can get an accurate count.
"It is really a great project," Kratche said.
In other business, the commission gave approval to receive bids on replacing the roof at the Mid-Ohio Valley Health Department Building.
Wood County Maintenance Supervisor Todd Nonamaker told commissioners that recent heavy rains have caused leaks within the building prompting the need to replace the roof.
"It was raining inside the health department," he said.
The roof is a rubber membrane fiberglass reinforced roof which Nonamaker believes it should be replaced with.
Commission President Blair Couch said he believed the roof was last replaced around 1998 when his father, David, was a county commissioner and voted to approve the work.
"They were using baby pools to catch the water," he said.
Colombo said he wanted the county to do an evaluation of the people and programs in that building with the aim of eventually finding them a new location.
"I want to see what size of a building they need," he said.
Couch, who serves on the health department board, said they have converted closets that are used as offices and a couple of large offices that were broken down into three smaller offices each. Storage space is very limited.
"They are tight," he said.
He said the health department regularly applies for money to see about getting a new building.
"I don't think Wood County should go it alone on that," Couch said of trying to get the other counties who are served by the health department to put something towards that.
The health department serves Calhoun, Pleasants, Ritchie, Roane, Wirt and Wood counties.
The commission accepted bids to demolish the dilapidated property at 67 Larkmead Road, Parkersburg. The bids were $8,430 from Empire Builders in Parkersburg, $6,995 from Bosley Construction in Parkersburg and $25,350 from the Reclaim Company of Fairmont, W.Va.
The commission will have the bids reviewed by the county administrator and the compliance officer who will come back with a recommendation.
Brett Dunlap can be reached at bdunlap@newsandsentinel.com